BALAKRISHNAN NAIR Vs. MOHAMMED KUNJU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is directed against an order granting a temporary injunction. The seventh counter petitioner in the court below is the appellant.

(2.) The respondent in this appeal filed a petition on 4-12-1961 before the Subordinate Judge's Court of Quilon for settlement of his debts under S.15 of the Kerala Agriculturists Debt Relief Act, 1958. One of the debts included in the petition was a sum of Rs. 2,956/- which he was liable to pay under an award of the Labour Court, Quilon, in proceedings under the Payment of Wages Act. The appellant had moved the Labour Court for relief in respect of wages due to him, and the award was passed as stated above. The award was sent to the Magistrate, Quilon, by the Labour Court for realisation of the sum. It was at that stage that this petition was filed and an interim injunction obtained ex parte. The appellant objected raising various grounds, but the objections were overruled and the interim order was made absolute. He has therefore preferred this civil miscellaneous appeal.

(3.) One of the points raised by the appellant is that even if the liability under the award is treated as a debt, the same having come into existence after the commencement of Act 31 of 1958 cannot be treated as a debt for the purpose of granting relief under S.15 of Act 31 of 1958. The learned Judge relied on the decision in Ahamadu v. Kalyaniyamma ( 1960 KLT 865 ) to which one of us was a party. The point which arose for decision in that case was whether the debt exempted from the scope of the definition of 'debt' in S.2 of the Act could be treated as a debt for the purpose of S.15. It was held that the word 'debt' in S.15 included certain liabilities exempted from the definition of 'debt' in S.2. The question which arises in this case, namely, whether a debt incurred after the commencement of the Act is one in respect of which a debtor may seek relief under S.15, did not arise for decision in that case. It was observed: